A Great Birthday Party!

Saturday, 5-30-09What an absolutely beautiful day!! This so makes up for last years drizzly day. Elissa's Strawberry Shortcake birthday party was at Mud Mountain Dam. Daddy went up early to ensure we got the picnic tables we wanted and he was successful. It was perfect location to watch the kids play in the big toy area and it was somewhat private. It worked out great. The kids, of course, loved everything about the park and couldn't wait to get into the water. It was a fun day hanging out with family and friends. Thank you everyone for helping to make Elissa's day really special!

Grandma made this beautiful cake (a lot of blood sweat and almost tears)!

Yeah, presents!!

The water was the best part!

The madness after the Pinata.....Darin had to break it open because it was the unbreakable pinata.

Awesome day!!

Happy 5th Birthday Elissa!

Friday, 5-29-09

I can't believe my baby girl is 5 years old. It is so true that time just flies by. She is becoming so grown up and mature. She is such a blessing! She is always surprising me by things she says and thinks about, but she has been surprising me since day one. I think she was busting at the seams to get out and "talk" since she decided to show up 6 weeks early and a bonus is that she totally ruined Mommy's plans of 6wks off of work to do whatever I wanted. :0)
Last night she was very excited that she was going to be 5 today. She said, "I will get to do so much more now." I'm not sure what that "more" is, but it is a big deal to her.

Today is going to be so fun! We are hanging out in the morning, then she will go to Preschool. She gets to be the "queen" today. She will make a crown and wear it for the whole class. It is her snack day, so we made ice cream cone cupcakes with Strawberry Shortcake rings for the girls and Batman rings for the boys. So cute! I'm going to surprise her and bring balloons and flowers for her during snack time. Then right after Preschool she is going to her friends birthday party at a bounce house. She is very excited to share her birthday with Samena. After the birthday party we plan to take her to Red Robin for dinner and ice cream. One full day!

Elissa wore out (as you see below) the cover of her anywhere chair we got her when she was One, so we got her a new cover this year. She also wanted a doll that she could brush its hair and make it sit and stand, so this is what I came up with. The cheap version of an American Girl Doll.

Elissa's much loved and worn out chair.

The ice cream cone cupcakes we made for Preschool.

The Count Down.....

Thursday, 5-28-09

Elissa has been counting down all month to her birthday. I was counting down to our Phoenix trip at the first of the month and Elissa kept on asking me when her birthday was so I decided I would make her a calendar. So she has been marking off a day every night and counting how many days it is until her birthday. It has been great! This week she has been VERY excited to see that it is only a couple of days away. It is fun, the little new things we get to do as she gets older.
Elissa woke up this morning and came downstairs and said, "Mom I have a surprise for youuuuu." So I asked what it was. She said, "Tomorrow's my BIRTHDAY!" She had to mark off today first thing this morning. She couldn't wait till this evening. :0)

A Big Boy Bed

Sunday, 5-24-09

Zach is now out of his crib. We decided to just go to a cheap toddler bed before buying him a new bedroom set. He LOVES it because it has Lightening McQueen on it, currently his favorite movie. He did an amazing transfer to a bed. He got out of bed once and then I put him back in and told him that it was night, night time and he needed to stay in bed and he did. Then when he got up Monday morning he just walked out his door and came into our room. He is such a BIG BOY!

First Season of T-Ball

Saturday, 5-23-09
Elissa did T-Ball for the first time this Spring and she really liked it. Darin ended up coaching her team and also really enjoyed it. It was a MUCH better experience then soccer. She was just asking this evening if it was T-Ball night and we had to remind her that the season is over. This may be her sport. Saturday was the last game and then a BBQ afterwards with a trophy for each child and pictures. The other parents were very appreciative of Darin coaching and were very generous with gifts and requesting him to coach their kids again. We'll try soccer again in the Fall. :0)

My Little Boy.....

Tuesday, 5-19-09

I can't believe when I found out that I was having a boy that I was scared to death. What was I going to do with a boy?? I was so sure that we were going to have another girl, but thank goodness that is not what God had planned for us. His ways are always better! I can't imagine not having my little boy. He is such a joy and a terror at the same time. I have never known the kind of love and adoration that I have for him. I love, love, love my little girl - it is just different from the love I have for Zach and the love he gives back to me. We have been inseparable since he was born (both good and bad). :0) He twirls his hair when he is tired or thinking, like I do. It is hard to discipline him because he gives me this sly cute smile and says, "moooom" and then immediately starts saying, "sorry, mom.....sorry, mom.....sorry, mom" until I give him a hug. On the days that Darin gets up with him in the morning (usually between 5:30-6am) he will be good for an hr or so and then he will be insisting that they "wake, mom". I can hear him yelling at Darin, "wake, mom! wake, mom!" It is so nice to be wanted....... My favorite time with him is bed time. He wants several books read. I know all my construction trucks now. :0) Then he has to have several 4-5 cars in bed with him and he lines them all in a row and then fixes them several times before he will lay down. Then I put his blanket on and he says, "night, night mom" and I say night, night and I love you and he says back, "I love you mom." It fills my heart. He is two and is growing up way too fast. I was reading Dr. Dobson's book "Bringing Up Boys" and he said that between 3-5yrs the boys start separating themselves from their moms and identifying and mirroring their fathers more. So I have one more year of being the apple of his eye and I'm going to cherish every minute of it.

He just learned to pedal his trike.

Cruisin' in Style!

Saturday, 5-9-09
While we were gone, the neighbor girls brought over this Barbie battery powered Jeep for the kids. Hand-me-downs are SO great!! The kids LOVE riding in it. Even Zach knows how to work it, though he gets caught on the fence a lot. Elissa is a pro! It was really slow going forward and fast going backwards, so Daddy (electrical engineer) switched some wires and now it is SUPER FAST. I'm not sure if this was a good thing. :0) Elissa drives it around the loop and it is hard to keep up with her. It is pretty fun to watch them zoom around the yard in it. :0)

A Little Vaca to the Sun!

Friday - Monday, May 8-11th
After this very long and dreary Winter, Darin and I decided to go get some sun in Arizona. We stayed at the Arizona Grand Resort. This was my first time to Arizona and it was AWESOME! Most of the time I felt like I was in Mexico but we only had a two hour flight, got to love that! We took the 6:10am flight and we were in our hotel room by 9:30am changing into our swim suits waiting for the water park to open at 10am. This was unplanned, but such a great coincidence. We had 3 full days of walking across the pathway to the water park, grabbing our prime spot and then pulling out our books to begin reading in the wonderful heat for the day. When we got a little too hot, then we grabbed our inner tube and hopped into the lazy river. It's a hard job, but someone's got to do it. :0) It was a wonderful time of relaxing and just enjoying each other. Thanks Honey!

This is a slide that Darin and I only went on once. :0)

Our little oasis.

Mmmmm, a yummy Mai Tai!

Another trip around the lazy river.

Our last night at dinner.

We can't wait to go back next year with the kids!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

Wednesday, 5-6-09
Ok I know it is early, but Elissa's Preschool had a Mother's Day Tea for all us. It was SO cute. We waited outside the door and then each child one-by-one came and got their mom and brought them in for a picnic. We made a "beautiful" bonnet and then had a nice lunch. The best part was the wonderful performance they gave. Elissa was very excited to be my host and to have mommy in class. I need to do more individual time with her. She wanted to leave from there and go see a movie together like we did a month or so ago. I told her another day. I saw that UP is opening on her birthday, so I think I'll try to take her to see it that day. :0)

Last Saturday we had all the Grandparents over for a Mother's Day BBQ (in the rain). Somehow I never got one picture of the Mom's.....oops! Darin and I are going to be in Phoenix for Mother's Day, so we have been celebrating early. Happy Mother's Day to me! :0)

Here is the lovely bonnet Elissa and I made.

Elissa also made me this fan. Now I'm a true Southern Bell. :0)

Walking our "pets" around.....

Sunday, 5-3-09

Both Elissa and Zach (to Darin's chagrin) LOVE to stroll around everything. Zach usually has cars and planes or nothing at all and they just have races. Today they decided to take their new Build-a-Bear pets on a stroll around the neighborhood. So cute!

A bittersweet day.....

Friday, May 1st
We gave our dog, Sandy, to another family today. The idea of having a dog and the reality are MUCH different. We have had Sandy since 12-26-08 and it has had its ups and downs. She is a wonderful, loving, calm and pretty dog. On the down side, she sheds constantly and wants to play fetch 24/7. She is a constant companion. We figured out that we only had enough time to give to the kids and that Sandy wasn't getting enough attention. We decided that at this time, we just aren't dog people. It is a hard decision to come to, but I think it is the best for us and Sandy. We are SO thankful that we were able to give her to her brother's family. We had met her brother Wilson when we got Sandy and his family which were very much "dog people". Thankfully they were willing to bring Sandy into their family too. We know that she will be much loved and have a constant companion - her brother. The kids took it very well. Zach really doesn't understand what went on and he didn't pay a whole lot of attention to her. We have been talking to Elissa for several weeks now about letting Sandy go. Some time she would say she wanted her to stay and then others she would say it was ok and she wanted a kitty. :0) Today she did really well and no tears were shed. I think she is going to be just fine. Maybe we'll get a cat in the fall......we'll see. We told her that we would take her to Build-a-Bear workshop to make a special friend.
Here is Sandy yesterday doing what she loves.....catching a ball and retrieving. She is super good at it and very fast. Her new family will love this about her.

After Elissa paced up and down the row of animals several times, she finally decided on this cute bunny.

She thought the stuffing machine was loud.

Giving kisses to her bunny's heart.

Zach got a cute puppy.

Elissa with her new friend "Keena" is what I think she named her.

I asked Zach what he named his puppy and we think he said Sandy. :0(

I'm glad the decision has finally been made and the day is over. Now back to our "normal" life.